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An Episodic Tale With No Stakes (The Mandalorian and Grogu review)

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  It has been 7 years since a Star Wars movie graced the silver screen, with Lucasfilm going through significant turmoil within Disney to create the next theatrical release that would bring fans back to support the franchise that had seemingly turned against it after The Rise of Skywalker, and, to some degree, rightfully so. Since then, Lucasfilm has been relying on Disney+ for its content output, and their most successful of the bunch is The Mandalorian, centered on Din Djarin, a bounty hunter who comes across a baby Jedi, Grogu, and they go on adventures together.  It seems almost odd that after what Disney+ has been doing with the Marvel franchise, Disney decided to have their first Star Wars in nearly a decade to be a continuation of a hit Disney+ show, relying on the fact that everyone had seen The Mandalorian TV show, despite Grogu toys being as profitable as Stitch at this point. All of us have been on the edge of our seats, wondering if this can turn Star Wars fans' fa...
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In Cynical Fashion (The Devil Wears Prada 2 review)

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2 decades later, The Devil Wears Prada has a cult following, not only for its campy aspects but also for its specific take on motivation in the workplace, how one is perceived when their life is consumed by work, and the consequences that bring to their personal life. There have been many ways in which people who have seen the 2006 film have been inspired by a work ethic, because it made such an impact on the professional zeitgeist. It was not surprising when they announced they were developing a sequel outside the confines of the novel it was originally based on, and, of course, leaning into the nostalgia bait. The sequel not only needed to live up to the predecessor but also make an impact; it needed a reason to exist, especially when many other sequels to franchises that started 10 to 20 years ago barely spark a conversation worth having.  What I can say is that The Devil Wears Prada 2 has a message, a specific one that involves saving the art form, from this movie's c...
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Selling The Fantasy (Michael review)

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Michael Jackson was and sometimes even still is a cultural phenomenon, and there has been a lot of chatter around this biopic on the King of Pop, from legal issues, to reshoots and delays, all have finally culminated in what we would hope to consider to be the first blockbuster of the summer movie season. Out of the gate, from the trailers, this seemed promising, but we weren't sure how much of Michael's life, struggles, and success would be featured on screen and how audiences would react to celebrating as well as negating certain things that occurred within the Jackson family.  Overall, I would say this biopic was a good time at the theater. It does not let up from emotional punches to its musical sequences. It was very refreshing to watch this with an active crowd who were true fans of Michael Jackson; it was almost endearing to see them celebrate, laughing, crying, and singing along to the movie. I do think that the movie does manage to do a good job in creating that atmos...
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Not Enough Mummy (Lee Cronin's The Mummy review)

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  'NO! Brendan Fraser is not in Lee Cronin's The Mummy' was Lee Cronin's response to the audiences coming out of advance screenings expecting it to be a continuation of that franchise. Yes, they are in development on that project, but it just got announced, and no official confirmation has happened yet. Somehow, a bunch of people going to watch this have no comprehension of how much time it takes to make a movie before putting it on the big screen. This is also a New Line/Warner Bros. feature, with no connection to the Universal monsters of it all, so they can do whatever they want with a concept, idea, or character because it's in the public domain.  With that said, this version of the mummy is directed by Lee Cronin, which is very much part of this movie's marketing. For those wondering who this director is, he is best known for directing the most recent Evil Dead Rise movie, which I have not seen. After watching this and learning that Sam Raimi is returni...
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The Fear of Being Vulnerable (The Drama review)

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  There had been a lot of discourse about the photos from Zendaya and Robert Pattinson filming in New York last year that ended up becoming The Drama, a new A24 feature that became April's most curious choice amid a bloated lead-up to the summer movie season. Some of us are concerned this may be an award push for Zendaya. Much of the film carries a lot of weight, aside from what looks like a budding romance between Emma and Charlie, but it is indeed a dark comedy; the comedy is debatable, in my opinion, with two specific messages muddled together.  What I think was unexpected, which can come across as jarring for some viewers, is that The Drama very much relies on the fact that conflicting views on a controversial opinion can affect relationships. I think that mentioning that in this review will already change the perception of this film in general (if you haven't seen it and are here to read my take on it), but it is very hard to review this film without at least acknowl...
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A Live-Action Pixar Film (Project Hail Mary review)

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  Can the box office be saved? Project Hail Mary is, well... a Hail Mary in itself to revitalize exceptional box office for a stacked year of movies, but can Ryan Gosling stick a landing without Barbie on his side, or have another flop on his hands despite it being another worthwhile addition to his repertoire? With this adaptation of the sci-fi bestseller, the author of The Martian brings another space-adventure story about a lonely astronaut.  The adaptation centers on Rylan Grace, a scientist and teacher who is hired to figure out what is causing the Sun and other stars in the nearby solar system to dim, as if they were ill, a development that could lead to Earth's extinction. He is sent to space on a mission to figure out why one of these stars is not affected by this space disease and meets an unlikely friend along the way. With a lack of a serious tone in how I presented that summary, which is the opposite of what marketing is for, is the best way I can explain the plot....
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Kooky and Creepy Might Save Pixar From Irrelevance (Disney Pixar's Hoppers review)

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  Pixar has never shied away from themes that make one ponder, especially as of late, to broaden its audience, even if some of these audiences don't seem interested or just blame it on not knowing the movie existed in the first place. Hoppers, I hope you do not suffer this fate, similar to last year's Elio, where the story is as bold as its animation.  This Pixar feature centers on Mabel, an animal activist from birth, a passion that leads her to a rivalry with the Mayor of the fictional Beavertown, who wants to build a new freeway at the expense of the lake where her grandmother used to teach about the wonders of nature. Caught between wondering where the animals had gone from this lake, she also learns of a secret experiment her professor is conducting in college of putting their consciousness into life-like animal robots as a way of making species anthropology easier. She defies her professor and puts on a beaver suit to bring animals back to the lake and avoid further high...
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